U.S. presence in Iraq
is source of instability

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Sunday, July 29, 2007

The invasion and occupation of Iraq are illegal because there was no declaration of war by Congress, no approval for the use of force by the United Nations Security Council, and no legitimate claim of self-defense.

As our Constitution clearly spells out, all international agreements and treaties that we sign on to (things like the U.N. Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) automatically have the force of United States law.

This means any behavior that violates the terms of such agreements (like starting wars with countries that pose no threat to us) is illegal.

The Iraq War Resolution (the vote for which, by the way, was far from Mr. Kovalec's claim of unanimous) is not a declaration of war. It's an unconstitutional transfer of war making power from Congress to the president.

More than 3,600 American soldiers and at least 650,000 innocent Iraqis have paid for George's lies with their lives.

This disaster has also created the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world. So far, two million Iraqis have been forced to flee their country and another two million have been displaced within.

Time to face the truth, Mr. Kovalec. Our presence in Iraq is the source of the violence and instability, and is only encouraging more terrorism. This will not change until we leave.

Perhaps you could see the light if you were somehow able to put respect for your country and other sovereign nations before your ugly politics.